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This year, the dates of Hanukkah and Christmas aligned, and Jews faced a choice of Talmudic proportions: Chinese food or Hanukkah specialties?

To answer a question with a question: Why choose?

Enter flip-side scallion pancake latkes. One side latke, one side scallion pancake. Good with soy-ginger-vinegar dipping sauce, good with sour cream.

Rather than a point-by-point recipe, I’m giving you basic instructions and links.

Here’s the general idea:

Make a good scallion pancake dough. I like this recipe, but use your favorite. I made it gluten-free by substituting in a mixture of about 1 part tapioca flour/starch, 1 part sticky rice flour/sweet rice flour, and 2 parts all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. (I like Manini’s, but pick your favorite.)

Make latke batter. I don’t use a recipe, but this one describes what I do pretty closely.

Roll out some scallion pancakes into small circles, about two or three inches across and 1/4 inch thick. If you’re making a very small batch, you can do these individually, but it’s a bit of a pain, since it involves lots of folding in layers of sesame oil and scallions and re-rolling to get layers. It’s easier if you roll out your dough and cut circles or ovals out of it with a cookie cutter or glass.

Dollop some latke batter on top of each pancake, about 1/4 inch thick.

Heat oil with a good smoke point. I used sunflower oil with a dash of toasted sesame oil.

When it’s hot, fry the scallion pancake side first. When it has brown spots, flip the pancakes over and fry the latke side until it’s crispy and brown. Drain on plates with paper towels.

Happy Hanukkah! In honor of the holiday, here’s my new favorite way to make latkes. Kimchi latkes are the happy result of having made an enormous batch of kimchi a few months ago. I’ve been putting kimchi in rice dishes, in sandwiches, in scrambles, in soups… if this hadn’t used up the rest of my kimchi (and some store-bought kimchi too), I might have teetered on the brink of kimchi french toast and kimchi cookies. (Although there are napa cabbages and radishes in my fridge waiting to be made into you-know-what.)

First, the kimchi. I’ve been making my own using this really tasty recipe. Before that I got great kimchi at the University District farmers market from the Woodring stand. But if you’re cooking with kimchi, I recommend using a less specialty kimchi, either part of your giant homemade batch or a simple one from a grocery store. Kimchi House in Ballard sells containers of their made-in-house kimchi.

Second, the latkes. It turns out potatoes and kimchi are delicious together. I served these with sour cream to which I added small amounts of other flavors: sesame oil, sesame seeds, scallions, kimchi juice, salt, and maple syrup. Don’t add too much of anything liquid or your sour cream will lose thickness. It helps to start with a thick brand, like Wallaby.

You can adjust the quantities in this recipe to suit your tastes. But too little kimchi will make the taste get lost in the latke, while too much will make the latke hard to fry and keep together.

Kimchi Latkes with Sesame-Scallion Sour Cream

(scale recipe up or down as needed)

Latkes:

6 small Russet potatoes, or 3 large ones (about 3 pounds), grated

1.5-2 cups kimchi, chopped up into small bits (You can reserve some kimchi to serve them with too.)

1/3 cup sesame seeds (or more/less to suit your taste)

3 small leeks or 2 large leeks (You can substitute a two bunches of scallions or a small onion.)

Salt (about a small handful)

1/2 cup sticky rice flour/sweet rice flour

2–3 large eggs

high oleic sunflower oil, chicken fat, or your favorite frying fat

toasted sesame oil

Sour cream:

Thick full-fat sour cream, 1-2 cups as desired

Salt to taste

A few drops of Sesame oil

A few teaspoons of sesame seeds

A few drops of kimchi liquid or other spicy/hot sauce

A few drops of maple syrup

2-4 scallions, a.k.a. green onions

Tools:

1 very large mixing/salad bowl, preferably with a flat bottom and wide sides that widen as they go up.

1 colander (optional but very helpful)

Grating equipment (food processor highly recommended)

Large frying pan (cast iron, stainless steel, or non-stick as you prefer)

Metal spatula, plus optional extra large metal spoon to help you flip the latkes

Plate with paper towels

Knife and cutting board

Latkes

1. Grate potatoes and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle liberally with salt.

3. Clean and grate leeks and add to the potatoes, removing any of the tough outer or green parts. You can substitute two bunches of scallions or a small onion, but if you grate an onion press the water out before mixing it into the batter.

2. Chop kimchi and mix it into the potato mixture. Add the sesame seeds, adjusting the amount as desired.

3. Add two of the eggs and mix in.

4. Add the flour and mix in. If the batter really doesn’t look sticky, add a third egg now.

5. You now have kimchi latke batter. It might start releasing liquid, which we don’t want in the latkes. Here’s the magical solution (which can be used with any latke batter): Scoop all the batter into a colander. Then, set that colander back into your mixing bowl. Excess liquid will drain out into the bowl, from which you can dump it into the sink occasionally. You can press on the batter to expedite this.

6. Heat 1/8″ or so of oil in your pan. Add a dash of toasted sesame oil. When it’s hot, take a palm full of latke batter, press it gently from above with the palm of your other hand, and place it in the oil. Arrange 3-4 of these in the pan. Let that side cook until brown, and don’t poke them too much.

7. When one side is brown, use a metal spatula to flip the latke. I like to flip it two-handed with a large metal spoon in the other hand. Fry the second side until crispy brown, and then place on a waiting plate with paper towels.

8. Is your batter holding together properly and not too moist? If it’s falling apart, you can mix in another egg in. You may also want to taste a test latke at this point to make sure the batter has enough salt.

9. Repeat until batter is used up, replenishing your oil frequently as you go. Serve hot with sesame-scallion sour cream and/or more kimchi.

Sour cream

1. Chop scallions fine. Add to sour cream, reserving a few for the top.

2. Add sesame seeds and salt to taste. Reserve a few sesame seeds for the top.

3. Very carefully add small drops of the wet ingredients, mixing after each. Taste. You want enough to flavor the sour cream, but not so much that the sour cream gets liquidy.

4. When the sour cream suits your taste, sprinkle a few scallions and sesame seeds on top.

There are a few fresh ingredients I’m finding addictive this spring. Last year this time, I was living in French Guiana, an overseas department of France north of Brazil. The markets were great ––fresh-squeezed passion fruit juice, pastured chicken, purple dragon fruit–– but I missed peas, strawberry, and rhubarb. Now that I’m back and it’s springtime again, I’m devouring the things I missed. But now, of course, I miss passion fruit.

This pasta makes great use of any kinds of fresh peas you have around. English peas, snap peas, pea shoots; they all stand out with the lemon and smoked salmon flavors. Frozen would taste okay too, but this pasta is really an excuse to eat fresh spring peas. As if you needed an excuse.

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Spring Creamy Lemon Pasta with Smoked Salmon, Pea Shoots, and Peas

Serves 2

1/2 pound or more of peas: chopped snap peas, shelled English peas, or a combination

A few ounces of smoked salmon (you can also use leftover pieces of cooked salmon)

1/2 cup coconut milk or cream

6–8 oz of pasta (I used gluten-free fusilli)

Butter and olive oil

Salt

Optional: fresh spring herbs such as chervil or basil

1. Set pasta water to boil. Prepare pasta as you usually would. When it is cooked, drizzle with olive oil and set aside.

2. While pasta is boiling, chop all your vegetables as described above. Get the bowl you’ll use to serve the pasta ready.

3. In a sturdy pan with plenty of surface area, heat a bit of butter and olive oil. When it’s hot, cook the white parts of your onions and garlic on medium-high, saving the green onion shoots if you have them until the onions have turned clear and are starting to brown. Then, stir in any green parts. You can add some salt as the onions are cooking.

4. Add more butter and stir in sliced mushrooms. Cook on medium-high stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their juices and the edges are starting to brown.

5. Scrape out the contents of the pan into the bowl waiting to serve the pasta. (If the pasta is done and already in the bowl, that’s fine; you can add the mushrooms to the pasta.)

6. Put the pan back on the hot burner and add the peas, a little olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Stir a few seconds.

7. Add the pea shoots to the peas and stir until they are just barely cooked.

8. Scrape the peas and pea shoots into the pasta bowl (or, again, onto the pasta if the pasta is done).

9. If the pasta isn’t already done, wait for it to finish. Pour it into the pasta bowl and toss it with some olive oil and the awaiting mushrooms, onions, peas, and pea shoots.

10. Put your sauté pan back on the burner, but turn the burner off and just use the residual heat for this step. Add the coconut milk or cream to the pan and stir to pick up any remaining flavors or bits of sautéed vegetables. If you are using any fresh herbs, you can add them now too. Scrape this mixture onto the pasta and mix it in.

11. Add the lemon juice to the pasta. Crumble the smoked salmon over the pasta. Stir and serve immediately.

Updated: As I’m fairly sure all of you guessed, this was an April Fools’ Day post. I’m afraid ViaDuctTape® won’t be hitting the shelves anytime soon, and you’re probably not going to harvest zucchini on the viaduct.

BREAKING NEWS

SEATTLE April 1st, 2014

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With Bertha the tunneling machine stuck ––leaving plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement stalled–– Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced today a new plan for the aging highway: Turn it into a giant raised-bed vegetable garden.

Mayor Murray, Governor Jay Inslee, and leaders from Public Health – Seattle & King County will work closely with the P-Patch program and WSU Extension to cover the top level of the structure in dirt and compost, then fill it with charming rows of tomatoes, rutabagas, cabbages, and other healthy foods. City residents may apply for garden patches of their own, and schools without garden space will be able to apply for plots, but anyone is welcome in the garden. Classes in yoga, pilates, and giant zucchini hoisting will be available to help keep city residents fit.

The lower level of the viaduct, which gets no sunlight, will serve as a waterway for salmon climbing upstream to lay their delicious eggs. This level is funded as a gift by the city of Nantes, Seattle’s sister city in France. In honor, the fish released on this level in April will be called les poissons d’avril. The Seattle Aquarium nearby will host special overnight trips for city residents to snooze aboard a raft on the lower level of the viaduct, as a new adventure-level part of the Aquarium’s Sleep With the Fishes program.

“Seattle is proud to be on the cutting edge of bold sustainable food innovation,” Mayor Murray said, nibbling on some lettuce from one of the beds slated for garden transfer. “We’re building a food forest. We’re changing food deserts. Why not make a food highway?” And speaking of food highways, Mayor Murray added, new farmers markets will be popping up on I-5 in 2015, along the shoulder or on the grassy meridian. Drivers need only screech to a halt and pull over to buy some blueberries.

Alice Waters, founder of Edible Schoolyard and pioneer of the farm-to-school, farm-to-table, and farm-to-carpool-lane movements, hailed the garden conversion. “We know the Edible Schoolyard idea works,” she said. “Why not Edible Freeway?” If ––like the Edible Schoolyard model–– the idea spreads beyond Washington, a new garden network might truly become interstate. Indeed, East Coast and Midwest regions are said to be considering a similar plan, but are questioning whether large-scale garden conversion would take a toll on an already weakened road system.

Meanwhile, Seattle’s planned giant raised bed is raising some concerns even among sustainable food advocates. “Achieving food security is already an enormous challenge,” said a regional farmer, who preferred to remain anonymous. “But doesn’t building a heavy garden that might topple in the next earthquake give a whole different meaning to ‘food instability’?” Local activists responded to the question with three days of consensus-driven meetings fueled by gluten-free pizza and kale chips, the end result of which was an agreement to hold a three-day community forum, also fueled by gluten-free pizza and kale chips.

But Governor Inslee dismissed the concerns. “Local entrepreneurs have already devised a solution,” he said. Indeed, ViaDuctTape® will be hitting area shelves this month.

Stability isn’t the only controversial element to the plan. Members of the Yes on 522 campaign that tried to mandate labeling of GMO foods in Washington have spotted rows of corn growing in the distance in the plan’s artistic rendering. “Is that GMO corn?” a representative demanded. Meanwhile, the state cannabis growers association is considering placing a high-dollar counter offer for the space. Their campaign, called Plant High, is expected to be unveiled later today. And partners from Public Health – Seattle & King County have had to fend off attempts by soda and fast food companies to try to get involved. “It’s been ridiculous,” said a spokesperson. “The Coca-Cola folks were offering to provide millions of gallons of Coke to fill the salmon stream. But young salmon exposed to sugary drinks face a much higher risk of health problems up the stream. The only healthy swimming liquid for salmon is water.”

Meanwhile, if the garden plan goes forward without interruption, Bertha the tunneling machine will serve a new purpose: churning the tons of compost needed to keep the garden going.

Amid all the things on my mind lately –– the amazing American Public Health Association (APHA) conference I attended in Boston, the jobs I’m applying for, the pears I’m addicted to –– my thoughts keep coming back to one upcoming and highly unique event:

Thanksgivukkah.

For those who have been living under a [Plymouth] Rock [of Ages], this year is the first time Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have overlapped since the 1800s, and the last time they’ll overlap for something like 79,000 years. It’s our only Thanksgivukkah ever, which means it’s also my only chance ever to write earnest pleas about eating local for Thanksgivukkah. Local potato (or sweet potato) latkes with local apple-cranberry sauce! Local brussels sprouts refashioned into a menorah! Local turkey fried in local, uh, oil? But in all seriousness, aside from the improbability of finding local chocolate coins or local pecans for pie, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are two of the easiest holidays to support local farmers and get the tastiest ingredients you need. Local turkeys are hard to find if you don’t plan in advance, but you can always try calling farms listed on Local Harvest as raising turkeys. Keep in mind that farms that raise turkeys one year may not raise them another year.

Also, while I never usually sell anything on this site, I am just this once marketing some parody art I made for Thanksgivukkah that’s for sale in the form of greeting cards, shirts, playing cards, wrapping paper, place mats, kitchen towels, mugs, etc on my Zazzle store here. I think you get a discount through Thursday with the coupon code HOLIDAYCOUNT. Some of the designs:

A program called Fresh Bucks that matches up to $10 of purchases for Seattle farmers market-goers who use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps) has been extended until the end of the year. The Seattle Times reports today that the program, which was supposed to expire this Thursday, will continue through December 31, 2013. The article includes details on negotiations to include the program in the 2014 budget as well. I hope it is both included and expanded.

U-District Farmers Market fans’ pet dogs probably always wondered why their owners came home Saturday mornings smelling like kale and sausage and talking about guitar players singing annoying 70s-era songs, and why they –– dogs, not songs, alas–– were always left behind. For the last two Saturdays, and all Saturdays forthcoming, the dogs are finally getting a chance to find out, and their owners are finding a surprise of their own: The market, which for about two decades was in the parking lot at the corner of 50th and University Way NE (the Ave), a space where dogs lucky enough to come close had to wait outside the gates and watch their owners trod around a square of booths within, has now taken over the full street on the Ave between 50th and 52nd. Vendor booths face a single wide aisle for market-goers and, yes, their dogs.

The change comes as the city prepares to develop the former parking lot into a park, and it may be serendipitous. To close a street for an event is to give that event a festive air. I’ve always liked that the Ballard Farmers Market on Sundays takes over a street, although unlike at the new U-District market, the Ballard stands are in the middle of the street and market-goers have to circle around them. I set out to see how vendors and visitors feel about the new U-District layout.

I was not able to get any feedback from dogs, although I couldn’t help thinking about how over at the Ballard market, David and Tim and Gene from Wilson Fish spoil passing dogs (and people) with bits of top-quality smoked salmon, and the U-District dogs aren’t yet quite so lucky. But if the dogs were staying quiet (and well-behaved), most farmers, vendors, and market-goers were forthcoming with opinions.

“Brilliant. We love it. It’s quieter,” said George Page, of Sea Breeze Farm. Becky, a customer at his stand, thought there was a street fair at first, and was happy to realize it was the market, even if she was a bit disoriented. “I’m so used to my pattern,” she admitted. “I realized I didn’t actually know who my egg person was; I just knew her by the spot she was in.” George set to work helping her identify the egg vendor in question.

Stina Booth of Booth Canyon Orchard was also happy with the change. “I think it’s great,” she said. “I feel like I’m seeing a lot of new faces. Logistically [for the vendors], driving in and driving out is much easier than in the parking lot because it’s a one-way traffic flow now.” For the market-goers, she added, “Everyone walks by everyone, so there are no dead-end corners. And there’s no car noise.”

Some of the vendors’ booths are larger or look larger than they used to be. A woman browsing winter squash at the Mair Farm-Taki stand commented to her friend, “This is so much more spacious than their old space.” A few people noted that the new layout offers very few corner stands, since the booths are all in a row with just a few walkways for an entrance to the food truck area and another to the parking lot.

I approached John Huschle of Nature’s Last Stand, who was preparing one of his new handmade pork sausage sandwiches for a customer, and calculating how long the sausage would take to grill. “Have you heard of the slow food movement?” he asked her. “Well, uh, you’re about to find out how slow food can be.” She didn’t seem to mind.

I asked what he thought of the market layout. “If the customers like it, then we like it, and everyone says they like it,” he said, adding, “It’s an important thing when they shut a street down.” He pointed out that we’ll know more in the summer season, when the market is more crowded.

“Although when I look at that parking lot,” he admitted, “I have a sense of nostalgia.” I felt it too. The U-District market was my first farmers market as an adult, where I got to know regional farmers and where I first bought things I’d never cooked, like fennel and fava beans. It’s easy to get sentimental.

Kurt Tonnemaker, of Tonnemaker Farms, was practical. “It’s a lot more visible,” he said, “and people find new vendors because they’re searching for the ones they know. It’s also a little more open in appearance because it’s open ended.”

Security guards standing at either end of the market have a unique view on the interest or confusion of passersby. Brian Delfir, a security officer at the north end of the market said, “People are getting used to it. Some people have asked if this is a permanent thing, and some have suggested that maybe there could be signs about the change in traffic. But overall, it’s been positive.”

Eiko Vojkovich of Skagit River Ranch was satisfied. “I have a lot of customers who love that they can finally bring their dogs here,” she said.